49 killed, 148 wounded in violent attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- At least 49 people were killed and 148 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, including a wave of bombing attacks in the capital city of Baghdad, police and interior ministry sources said.

Eight people were killed and 20 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Husseiniya area in northern Baghdad on Tuesday evening, while six people were killed and 18 others wounded when two car bombs exploded in the Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Another car bomb in the Zaffaranya area in southeastern Baghdad killed six people and wounded 11 others, the police source said, adding that four people were killed and 16 others wounded, including three policemen, when a car bomb went off at Naser Square in Sadoun Street in central Baghdad.

Also on Tuesday evening, three people were killed and 18 others wounded when two car bombs struck the Bataweein area in central Baghdad, while two people were killed and 14 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Amel district in southwestern Baghdad, the source said.

A car bomb in the Saedea area in southwestern Baghdad killed one person and wounded 13 others, he added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the al-Qaida front in Iraq, in most cases, were responsible for such bombings in the country.

In the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, three policemen and four gunmen were killed and 12 policemen injured when unidentified gunmen attacked a police station and the two sides clashed with various kinds of weapons, a local police source said.

Earlier in the day, six people were killed and 13 wounded in separate bombings and shootings in central Iraq, police and interior ministry sources said.

A civilian was killed and seven were wounded when a roadside bomb ripped through Tarmiya area, some 40 km north of Baghdad, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, two policemen were killed and two wounded in a mortar barrage on a police station in Mashahdah area, some 30 km north of Baghdad, the source said.

In Baghdad, Ali Ahmed Kamel, a senior official in the governorate, was shot dead when gunmen using silenced weapons opened fire on his car in Shaab district in the northeastern part of the capital, an Interior Ministry source anonymously told Xinhua.

Separately, a policeman was killed and a civilian wounded in a shootout between some gunmen and a police force in the city of Fallujah, a local police source said.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, an army force exchanged fire with a gunman and shot him dead in the city of Maqdadiyah, some 100 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

Also in the province, three soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near their patrol in al-Udhaim area, some 60 km north of the provincial capital city of Baquba, which is about 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

Iraq is witnessing its worst eruption of violence in recent years, which raises fears that the country is sliding back to the full- blown civil conflict that peaked in 2006 and 2007, when monthly death toll sometimes exceeded 3,000.

Three people were killed and 12 others wounded when a roadside bomb exploded inside a popular cafe in the Shala area in northwestern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source anonymously told Xinhua. Full story